Lost (Book 6 of the Forbidden Series)

10

Westchester New York…

It had taken four days to reach New York, and Kat found herself growing more excited the closer they got to home. She was looking forward to seeing everyone. Every time they had stopped for a meal or to sleep for the night Kat had been feverishly writing on anything she could get her hands on; paper, takeout menus, and even napkins. Alexander had called ahead telling everyone he had found Kat and was bringing her home. News that relieved and overjoyed everyone at home.

On the fourth day when they had reached her Westchester country estate, Alexander had brought Kat in through the back gate to the backyard patio overlooking the pool and the garden where Beth and Roland had set out food and champagne to celebrate her return home. Kat was surprised by how many people were there to welcome her back. Her mother and father had flown in from Canada. Their old friend Ronny Creek had taken time off from running his club to spend the night with her and their friends. Both her children and their families were there and her brand new beautiful grandson.

Her brother Damien, his wife Eve, and their twins. Her best friends in the whole world and her long-term bandmates of over twenty years Troy Gurley, Sam Harper, and Travis Jaz had all brought out their families to welcome her back. She was overwhelmed by hugs and well wishes as she and Alexander came onto the patio. “Oh my god, your hair,” Troy said running his hand over her new blonde locks. “It’s so different.”

“I like it,” Sam said reaching out to touch it. “If I didn’t know better I would say you were a blonde.” He laughed.

“Where have you been?” Travis asked hugging her so tight he lifted her off the ground.

“I just needed to get away,” Kat said when he put her back on her feet. “And it was just what I needed.” She said walking over to the large French doors that led into the house. She threw open the doors and stepped inside. Kat looked at all the dust covers covering all the furniture in the dark room. “I found a new lease on life,” Kat said out loud and grabbed one of the dust covers. She yanked the cover off the couch and threw it in a heap on the floor. “It is time to breathe some life back into this house.” She said grabbing another cover yanking it off the grand piano and throwing it to the floor. She turned to see her friends and family watching her with shocked awe. “Oh, also…” She began reaching into her pocket and pulling out all the random pieces of papers she had been working on. She held them up for the boys to see. “What do you boys think about going back to work?”

Troy’s smile was so huge he rushed into the room and grabbed a dust cover from an armchair tugging it off. “Come on you guys,” he called back to the others, “we got a whole house to uncover.”

Everyone was happy to help. They spent the rest of the afternoon uncovering every room in the large manor and dusting away the months of accumulation. They dined on the spread Beth had set out and drank the champagne welcoming Kat back and toasting her new lease on life. While everyone celebrated, Kat took Troy, Sam, and Travis aside. She spread out the papers she had been working on across the top of the piano.

They read through the hastily written thoughts and with some juggling and reorganization they pulled together a few possibilities. Travis started tapping out a beat on the piano top, and Sam argued with Troy about the harmony. It was clear they were going to need some rehearsal and practice time to produce something of quality. More time than the party would allow.

They decided to rearrange their schedules and set aside some time to work together. Each person took out their personal iPhone or PDA’s clearing their schedules and rearranging appointments. “I’m glad to see you working again,” Travis said returning his PDA to his pocket. He was a year older than her and like the others had been her high school buddy. She remembered hanging out with them in the bleachers talking music while others were doing things like cheerleading and homecoming.

They had all changed a lot since then. From their scruffy grungy garage band look as kids to the sleek, clean, professional rockstars they were today. Sure, Sam’s hair was still wild with his tight dark curls, and Travis still chose to wear his chestnut hair long; but they had grown as people and artists over the years. They were good men and good-looking men with so much talent.

Then there was Troy, who outside her husband had been Kat’s best friend and confidant since the tenth grade. He was a decent looking man with exceptional talent and loyalty. She had watched him grow from the wild teenager into the responsible husband and father he was today. She adored Troy; he had always been there for her, even when she had wished he would not be. These men were like a family to her and Kat in her grief had neglected them for far too long.

“We were beginning to think you would never play again,” Sam admitted. The truth was she had never wanted to. When David died, Kat had lost her passion for the work they did. She had lost the desire and the drive. She had forsaken her talent and wanted nothing more to do with it, but her time with Zeke had changed all that. Kat felt rejuvenated, inspired and revved up once more. She felt the hunger and the passion in her belly again, the drive to create something incredible, to get out on stage in front of the world and sing her heart out. She craved the rush and the thrill it promised. Kat had rekindled her love for what she did.

“I might have never if it had not been for this trip.” She admitted. “It gave me exactly what I needed, even though I hadn’t realized what it was.”

“What did you do?” Troy asked.

Kat thought about his question. How could she explain what had happened between her and Zeke? She didn’t understand it herself. All she knew was it had saved her. “I just went with it.” She said discreetly.

“With what?” Travis asked.

“With whatever life threw at me.” Kat smiled.

“Well, it seems to have worked.” Sam grinned slapping her on the back. “It’s good to have you back.”

They spent the rest of the evening sharing food and wine. They put the young children to sleep in some of the many unused bedrooms in the large house so they could continue their festivities. Late in the evening, some began to turn in while others got further into the bottle. Rolland had retrieved Kat’s bag from her car and taken it to her room earlier in the evening happy to be useful once more.

When Kat finally retired for the evening, she found her bag on the chair beside the vanity and decided to unpack before bed. She opened the bag and started removing her clothes. She tossed what was dirty down the shoot on the wall and hung up what was still clean. She placed her brush and hair products back on the vanity and fallen to the bottom of her bag she found the picture Zeke had given her before she had left.

Kat reached into the bag and picked up the picture. She stared at the two of them together. She would never forget this man; she owed him so much. Kat took the picture, and with a clip, she attached it to the mirror of her vanity so she could see it every morning. She then returned her bag to its resting place inside her closet. She began to remove her clothes and opening her dresser drawer she pulled out a long nightgown. She pulled the gown over her head and let the blue satin fall across her skin.

Kat pulled back the bedspread and climbed into bed. She lay down and reached for the lamp to turn it off. She paused when she saw the framed picture of her and David. She remembered the day this picture had been taken. It was just after their first grandchild was born. They had thrown a baby shower in the park. It was spring, and everything was in full bloom. There were apple blossoms in the trees behind them. She and David had been cuddling on a blanket on the grass while everyone was enjoying the food.

Kat had been wearing a red sundress, and David had dressed casual in tanned jeans and a white dress shirt. The warm breeze had been blowing a wayward lock of his dark hair into his bedroom eyes all afternoon. Beth had been taking pictures of the event for her scrapbooking and had caught them stealing some alone time as they so often did. She had demanded a picture and David had put his arm lovingly around Kat and held her close.

Beth had taken a beautiful shot of them in the afternoon sun with apple blossoms and a warm glow. They had liked the picture so much Beth had given them a copy and Kat had framed it and placed it by the bed. David had always teased her telling her he didn’t need the picture to wake up to because he already had her to wake up to every morning. Kat placed a kiss on the tips of her fingers and touched his image. Silently saying good-night to the man she loved. Then she turned off the lamp and rolled over trying not to cry herself to sleep.

***

Kat had thrown herself into her work. She needed the distraction to keep strong. She spent her days and nights writing and composing. Their rehearsals were driven and long. She wouldn’t settle for adequate, or good, or acceptable. She wanted to produce something explosive. Something that rocketed up the charts once released. She wanted something that made the people move, something that she could feel in every fibre of her body when they performed something intense.

They needed a strong beat. A memorable guitar riff. Something that was recognizable right away, something unique. They needed something that appealed to all their fans, something that grabbed everybody, old and young, male and female alike. It took two months, but they had finally managed to work out something they could all be proud to affiliate their names with.

From there their next step was production. Recording and distributing. Quick Shot booked recording time at Chase Recordings. Her brother’s new business gave them a reduced cost of production as well as unlimited use. It was a sweet deal she couldn’t have gotten better anywhere else. Kat had forgotten just how much fun it was in the studio. Laying down the tracks and goofing off with her boys. Battling out guitar solos with Troy. She was having the time of her life and was certain this album was going to be a hit.

It took them three months to lay down the tracks just the way they wanted them to sound, and another three weeks to work out and agree on the cover art and title. Once all the decisions were made, the album went to production and would be out in stores within the next few months. They had already pre-release a single to radio stations to promote the coming album, and before they knew it, Quick Shot found themselves in front of the camera shooting their video for the music stations to air.

The video production took a total of three days of recording and two in the editing room. It aired the following week two weeks before the album itself was released to stores. Over the following weeks, the band had done numerous interviews discussing their new album, the tragedy that had befallen their frontwoman when her husband passed on, and the new image Kat had returned to the music scene with.

She had decided with a fresh start she would keep a fresh look. Kat had kept her new blonde hair with the minor alteration of red streaks throughout adding a certain glam rock feel to her image. Her new image had seemed to go over well since her likeness had suddenly become the most purchased posters and downloaded pictures from the internet. Since her arrival back on the music scene, Quick Shot’s popularity had skyrocketed.

After a month on the shelves, Quick Shot announced their intentions to tour. It was, much to the dismay of their many fans, to be a small tour. They were staying in North America only and doing one show per state. The limitation of their tour dates and the seating available to their shows drove up ticket prices as people fought over tickets to the one and only show. Many of their shows in numerous states sold out quickly. In fact, in Iowa, Florida, and Nevada their show had sold out within ten minutes of tickets going on sale.

Some people were selling tickets to the shows on E-Bay for hundreds of dollars, and people were paying for them. Things had become so crazy, it had been the best album release in their career, and the album had gone double platinum the first week on the shelves. Kat and her boys were in heaven; their careers could not have been hotter than they were at that time. But still at night when Kat was alone in her hotel bed and staring at the ceiling she felt empty. Something was missing.

They had been on the road for almost four months and were coming to the end of their tour. Soon the boys would be heading back to their wives and Kat would be going back to her home alone. She would have no more work ahead of her. Nothing left to do. What was she going to do with herself? Write another album? Could she make the boys work so hard again so soon? They missed their families. It wasn’t fair to them. What would she do?